Scoria 34: The Planet of The Invertebrates
by Sporedude135
Summary: After humanity's last hope, the Ark, is destroyed by an alien pirate fleet, an escape pod lands on Scoria 34. Now having to deal with a whole new world full of unknown diseases, towering algae towers, and invertebrate creatures at every turn, Cari, Toni, and Tiara have to find a way to survive this planet before it kills them.
1. Chapter 1

The world wasn't sustainable.

Planet Earth was home to millions, possibly billions, of lifeforms, ranging from the simplest bacteria to the lumbering elephants. But one of these lifeforms stood out. Humans. This race had become the dominant lifeforms on Earth, developing many technologies over it's history, from spears to laser guns. But now, Earth is a desolate wasteland, devoid of anything that could sustain life. Humanity was the cause. With global warming, habitat destruction, and all out war, it destroyed Earth.

Humanity was forced to the stars. But with so few resources left on the surface that was able to be mined, they could only build one "Ark." This spaceship was the savior of humankind, and launched on September 3rd, 4375. It's mission was to look for a new planet for humanity to inhabit. For three years, it floated in space, speeding at a fraction of the speed of light thanks to nuclear energy.

But that didn't matter. On what on Earth would be November 9th, 4378, the ship was attacked by an alien pirate fleet looking to sack the ship. The ship's defenses were overwhelmed, and the Ark was doomed for destruction and humanity's subjugation to whatever these aliens planned for them. But, a few escaped. The escape pods managed to launch, though only three people could be fit inside one pod at once. Over twenty of them were launched, managing to escape the pirates and the destruction of the Ark. One of these pods happened to land on a planet that was recently discovered by those on the Ark before it's destruction. That being?

Scoria 34.

* * *

The pod began to heat up, flames going around it as it descended into Scoria 34's super dense atmosphere. After a few minutes, the pod managed to break through the atmosphere, though still a ball of fire at this point. It crashed through a tall "algae tree" before landing on the forest floor. This alerted the natives of this forest, and one species in particular decided to investigate.

It seems odd that this race looks eerily human. Except for the grey skin, clawed hands, and a scorpion tail at the end that they used to hang in the algae towers like a monkey, they have everything a human would, like hair, developed, human-like eyes, and even a true mouth. They made chirping noises, swinging around to try and get a good look at the pod from a distance. They had never seen human technology before.

A female peered through the blade-like leaves of an algae tower to get a look at the pod. Her mate and their child were nearby. They began to speak to each other before the female began her descent down from the tower. The male tried calling her back, but she didn't listen. Reaching the bottom, she slowly approached the pod. She looked at every inch of the pod before looking inside.

She was shocked to find that those inside almost looked like her kind, but with pale skin and no armored arms or legs. Heck, they didn't even have their tails at all. Inside were three of them. One of them seemed to be the oldest, with short red hair, a picture of a strange creature under her right eye, and a beautiful body. The second oldest was a boy, with hair like hers, but blonde, and the start of a small beard. The last one was the youngest, and only a child from the looks of it. She has curly grey hair and what looks to be very soft skin around her nose and mouth.

She motioned the others of her kind to approach, as the three seem to be asleep. A few hesitated, but the rest of her kind came down. They slowly approached the pod as she tried to open it, with no success. Inside however, they could here a voice. It wasn't emanating from the three inside, but seemed to be from the pod itself.

"Atmosphere composition: 52.6% argon, 26.6% methane, 20.8% nitrogen," they heard it say. Then, a compartment opened up, putting what seemed to be masks and a gas tank onto the three. The female began to back away as the pod opened up. Steam poured out of the ship, blocking everyone's view of those inside. Then, a shadow stepped out of the pod, blocked by all the steam.

* * *

She awoke with steam all around her. Her mind was still hazy from her trip, but she slowly regained her bearings. She looked back at the pod, finding that the two her parents sent with her were still asleep.

"Toni, Tiana, wake up," she said, gently trying to wake them up. Tiana woke up almost instantly, hugging onto her in fear. Toni was still asleep however.

"Just five more minutes," he told her, snoring loudly.

"TONI!" The boy shot up with a gasp, but calmed down and rubbed his eyes. It was then he realized he was wearing an oxygen mask.

"Odd? Where did we land," he asked.

"I don't know. That's what I want to find out," she told him. Finally, the steam cleared...and they were already surrounded by what they first thought we're humans with scorpion tails and grey skin. "Well...were definitely not on Earth."

The three took quick glances at their surroundings. Tall algae towers, similar to those found in the ocean back on Earth, towered like trees above them. Algae vines hung from these towers, some connecting to other towers. Tiara stopped looking around, and stared directly at one of the female humanoids that was starting to approach.

If she looked more human then she does now, then she would get a guy's attention with her pear-shaped body. She has frizzy brown hair, amber eyes, and a small scar on her cheek. She was wearing a simple top and a tribal skirt, both made out of algae from the towers that are around them.

The two stared at each other for a while, not bothering to speak, if they even knew how.

"Yo! How yah doin? Don't think we've ever seen each other before. The name's Toni, these are Tiara and...uh, what's your name again," Toni asked the eldest of the three.

"Cari."

"Ah, yes, Cari." The humanoids looked at each other. They apparently didn't understand a single word that came out of his mouth. "Uh, hello!? Do I need to repeat myself?"

"Toni, I don't think they understand us," Cari told him.

"Ohhhh..." the female finally approached them. She tilted her head a little before looking at every inch of Tiara's body. More approached as the female was fiddling around with Tiara's hair. They all seemed interested in the three humans. Tiara didn't mind much.

However, The next thing they noticed is how it felt more heavy here. They turned back towards the pod's screens, and noticed one of them said that this planet had 1.25 times more gravity than Earth, as well as saying the atmospheric pressure is over thirteen times greated than back at home. And boy was it hot. The scanners told them that's it was currently at least a hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

"Looks like we're going to be staying here for a while," Toni stated, a young female poking his cheek with her clawed hand.

"Of course we are! I don't think any of the inhabitants of this planet even know what a spaceship is," Cari told him. Then, she felt something grab her chest. Looking down, she noticed one of the males squeezing her breasts with his claws. She blushed a little, but didn't get mad at him. He probably didn't know anything about humanity or their customs, like the rest of his kind. He did let go, intrigued when touching her breasts made her blush.

"Hehe, looks like you got an admirer," Toni joked.

"He is not! He's just...confused. Like we all are," Cari told him. She looked back at the male. "C-can you speak?"

The male tilted his head at her. She was right, they couldn't understand them. She wished they knew how to speak their language.

"Scot arp iou?" The male spoke. They did have a language. But it didn't sound like any language the translators recognized.

"Allow me," Toni told her, stepping in front of the male. "Dolazimo u miru. Što biste trebali biti?" The male, along with many of the others, stood back in shock. They regained their courage and the male spoke.

"Mi smo štipaljke," he said. Cari simply stood there, flabbergasted at the fact that they spoke and understood Croatian. Toni was from Croatia after all.

"They call themselves Scorpinoks," he told them.

"I...can't believe it. How...can they speak...Croatian...but not anything else," Cari questioned herself. She looked to be having a mental breakdown, but she regained her composure.

"Što biste trebali biti?"

"Bili su ljudi. Dolazimo s drugog planeta," Toni replied to the male.

"Toni, I'm putting you as our official translator," Cari told him. The boy smiled before the Scorpinoks approached them again. The young ones also appeared, and were clambering over their parents to find out what was going on.

"Dugo će biti zaglavljeni ovdje jer je naša matična kuća uništena. Imate li što protiv da se zadržimo," Toni asked. The male looked around at his kind. They were giving him reaffirming nods, which lead to Carib believing that he was the chief. He turned back towards the three and spoke.

"Dopuštamo ti da ostaneš. To je najviše što možemo učiniti ako je vaš dom uništen."

"He said that they will allow us. It's the most they could do since your ship was destroyed. I guess they thought the Ark was our home," Toni explained to the other two.

"Oh...okay, that's fine," Cari said. The male grabbed her by the arm, dragging her off to apparently show her around their algae forest home.

"Hey! Wait up!" Toni put Tiara on his shoulders and quickly raced after them.

This is going to be a big ride, and the three humans could feel it.

* * *

 **And were done! *drops phone* Ah, crap, didn't mean that.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this. If you want to see more or have an idea you want to see happen for this story, leave a review.**

 **This is Sporedude135, signing off...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Scoria 34: The Planet of The Invertebrates**

 **Chapter 2 (The long awaited Electric Boogaloo XD)**

The Scorpinok chief led Cari up a algae tower. She was shocked at how well they could climb them, almost like monkeys in a way they climbed. The other Scorpinoks started clambering up the tree as well, the female from before grabbing Toni and Tiara and placing them on her back with her tail, being mindful of her stinger. After climbing up to the canopy of the algae tower, the chief stopped, and let Cari step onto a stiff branch. She looked onwards, and fount herself staring at a village high in the trees. They were made of algae, just like the trees, and it looks like they were actually cut from the trees themselves. The female arrived and put Toni and Tiara down. They two awed at the village. The male got their attention and lead them to a large algae tower, which had it's top chopped off. It was big enough that the whole village could fit. The three humans stepped onto the large top and sat down next to where the chief stopped. The rest of the Scorpinoks gathered behind the three humans, sitting down in a tribal manner. The chief looked at the three before he began to speak.

"Nisam se baš dobro upoznala s tobom. Moje ime je Gulfam, a ja sam glavar plemena Hidden Node."

"He said his name was Gulfam, and he is the leader of the Hidden Mouth Tribe," Toni translated.

"Ostat ćete sa svojim ljudima, dokle god vam treba. Imate li nekoga od vas pitanja," Gulfam asked.

"He told us we can stay as long as we need, and asked us if we had questions," Toni told the other two.

"Ask him how he can speak Croatian. I'm really needing to know," Cari asked. Toni turned to Gulfam and translated her question to him. He nodded, and motioned the three humans to stand. They did so, and they followed him down a long walkway to a lone hut. He pushed the algae leaf door aside, and Toni and Cari gasped in shock. It was the wreckage of a lone, man-made, but familiar satellite.

"V-Voyager...how did it end up here?"

"Ova stvar je pala s neba i sletjela tamo gdje je vaš kontejner bio sada. Počeo je igrati ovaj čudan disk koji se nalazi na strani objekta. Oštećeno je u nesreći, ali uspjeli smo kopirati ono što nazivate "hrvatskim" jezikom. Sada ga koristimo kao glavni jezik, ali koristimo naš drugi jezik kada susretnemo nekoga koga nikad prije nismo vidjeli," Gulfam explained to them, Toni translating it over to English for Cari and Tiara to understand.

"Oh..." the four went back to the tree top and sat back down. Gulfam stretched as he listened to all the other questions Cari had that Toni translated for her. Toni was getting annoyed at this point, and put a finger over her mouth.

"That's enough," he told her, panting. Cari smiled at him and blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry, I kinda get a little carried away," she told him. Toni rolled his eyes as she turns back to Gulfam.

"Reci mi ... kako ste završili ovdje," the chief asked them. The three humans looked at each other before Toni began to explain everything to him. Gulfam listener carefully, not speaking until Toni finished.

"Pitanja?"

"Ne, razumio sam sve," Gulfam told him. He got up and stretched his tail a little. "U redu. Ako su sva vaša pitanja odgovorena, trebali bismo vas odvesti u novu kolibu."

* * *

A few hours later, the chief came down from the algae towers, carrying Cari with him. He let her put her feet on the ground before stepping down himself. She quickly rushed over to the pod they crashed down onto the planet in, and began to search around inside. She was looking for something, and Gulfam wondered what it was. Cari pressed a button inside the pod, and a compartment on the outside of the pod opened up, revealing a strange device about the same size as a notebook. Gulfam tilted his head at it while Cari hit another button. It unhitched the device from the pod, putting it gently on the ground. Cari picked up the device before she began to scroll through it. Gulfam appeared by her side, looking down at the device as she passed by a multitude of names of objects.

"Što je to?" Cari did not understand Croatian, but she figured he was wondering what it was.

"This is a creation tablet. It allows me to, well, create things. I find a certain amount of materials required to make an object and it automatically takes them and starts crafting the object I want," Cari explained. She knew he didn't understand English unlike her, but she thinks he got what she was saying. She continued scrolling a little bit, and finally fount what she was looking for. A translator. "Perfect. All I need is iron, copper...and phacochurnix armor and blood? The heck is a phacochurnix?"

"Znam što je to. Dođi samnom." Gulfam grabbed her arm and began to drag her back up the algae towers and to the village. There, he lead her to a large hut, surrounded by some sort of blue algae. He opened the door and let Cari step in. A storage building. Food and other supplies were neatly tucked inside, and she suspected the blue algae kept the place cool, like a big refrigerator. He pointed at a wall, where multiple vials of a greenish-red liquid and exoskeleton-like armor could be seen. She grabbed the armor and one of the vials while Gulfam grabbed a few iron and copper chunks that were in a pile on the other side of the room that they used to make weapons. She began to fiddle with the creation tablet again, and selected the translator option for making. In a jaw-dropping display, the vial, the armor, and the iron and copper Gulfam selected began to float into the air, where they suddenly went light speed and began to collide together. Three translators were created, and they floated gently onto the table. Gulfam looked at the small devices in shock as Cari picked up one of them, putting it on her ear. She fiddled around with the settings a little bit before she turned back to Gulfam.

"Thanks for the help," she told him with a smile. Gulfam shrugged it off before walking out of the hut, followed by Cari. She went back to her hut that Gulfam had designated her and the other two, and entered. She fount the two simply lounging around, with Toni almost falling asleep before she opened the door. He gasped in shock and fell out of his algae-wood made chair. Tiara smirked before she looked back over to Cari.

"Hey guys. I got these," Cari told them, holding out the two other translators she created. Tiara took one while Toni looked at her with a dead-panned look.

"Really? Translators? Wouldn't you have wanted to make, I don't know, spare oxygen tanks!?"

"I know that, but the oxygen masks we have on right now will still be useful for another six weeks, so we are fine until then," Cari reassured him. Toni sighed before taking one and putting it on his ear, along with Tiara. Cari helped get the translator to the setting she wanted while Toni did it himself. Cari hoped that this would work so that Toni didn't have to keep switching from English to Croatian and back. Her thoughts were interrupted when they heard what they thought were gongs going off. Cari told the two to stay put while she went out to investigate. She discovered a few male Scorpinoks had returned, carrying large algae sticks that had weird creatures attached to them.

The creature was about the same size as her, with six legs, a small mouth, three eyes that look similar to a spider's, long antennae that seem to almost reach the ground, and a pair of orange wings. Multiple seem to have been killed and brought back after a hunt that was going on at the time. Maybe these are the phacochurnix the creation tablet was talking about. She noticed Gulfam watching over the hunters as they continued hauling their prey towards another area of the village. She approached him.

"Are those hunters?"

"Yes." Well, at least the translator worked. "We got lucky by capturing five of them. That's enough to feed our village of three hundred for a while," Gulfam continued.

"Are those phacochurnix," she asked him.

"Yes. They are a primary source of food for our village. They breed quickly in their herds, so we have a long lasting supply that we can haul back," Gulfam replied.

"Oh good. I was starving," Cari said with a smile.

"Tell your siblings that preparations for a feast are starting. It's to celebrate your arrival," Gulfam told her before walking off. Cari looked at him weird, because Toni and Tiara weren't her siblings, more of siblings of friends she had before...

She was going to miss her friends. She had no idea where any of them are. Did they survive? Were they captured by those pirates and forced into slavery? Or did they make it on the pods and fled the destruction and looting of the Ark? Only time will tell. She just hopes they survived.

* * *

 **And that's it. I thank you for reading this chapter. If you want to see your ideas used in this story, give a review of your idea and I will try to put it in. Oh, and sorry if this chapter sucked. I tried.**

 **This is Sporedude135, signing off...(btw, little mermaid XD)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. Happy New Year! Here's a present (though it probably isn't the best)**

* * *

 **Scoria 34: The Planet of The Invertebrates**

 **Chapter 3**

A bright red star bounds over the algae tree tops, signaling the start of a new day. The Scorpinok tribe slowly woke up and exited their huts to begin their day time jobs like hunting and gathering resources. Gulfam watched his tribe from his hut. He was happy that everything went back to normal after the pod crashed through the canopy three days ago. Since then, the three humans had been integrated into Scorpinok society. Though he wonders where they are since they haven't emerged from their hut yet. Maybe humans and Scorpinoks woke up at different times? He had no idea, but he decided to let them be for now.

That was when he heard a scream, a Scorpinok one no less. He exited his hut and ran to the source. Everyone was crowding around something. He pushed his people to the side, and his grey eyes widened in shock.

It was one of his own men, covered in a sticky web with two puncture holes in his chest. Blue blood seeped from the holes. Gulfam knew this Scorpinok was dead. And he knew the culprit.

"Alert the hunters," he ordered. The village went into a panic. The men grabbed their spears and bows, along with food for the hunt. The hunters gathered in the central plaza, awaiting Gulfam's command.

It was here when Cari emerged from her own hut. She was awakened by all the noise the village was making during the panic, which she didn't realize was going on. She noticed the congregation and joined with the crowd that formed around the hunters. She turned her translator on, wondering what Gulfam was going to say.

"My people! We are in grave danger! The monsters have returned and have already claimed their first victim." The hunters gripped their spears and bows tighter. Cari gasped in shock. What does he mean by monsters? "We are going to go find these monsters and kill them once and for all. Are you with me!?" The hunters let out a war cry, pleasing Gulfam. He then noticed Cari walking up to him.

"What's going on," she asked.

"A monster has killed one of my own kin. I want to set things straight," he told her.

"Then...let me help. I want to at least pay you back for letting us stay in your village," Cari told him. Gulfam went quiet, putting his claw against his chin. He began to think. Would it be wise to bring her with them? She probably doesn't even have training. Maybe it would be good practice?

"Hm... you good with medicine?"

"Well, my parents were doctors back home, and they did teach me a lot of their stuff, so...I guess," she told him.

"Good. You'll be the medic," he told her. She wanted to help them on the front-lines, but a medic is okay as well. Gulfam gave her the materials needed, and they set out to find what killed his kin.

The hunters swung from branch to branch using their claws and tails, which reminded her of how monkeys travelled. She had trouble keeping up with them, but Gulfam helped her catch up. They landed on a platform, cut straight from a fallen algae tree and hung up to help the Scorpinoks hunt. A multitude of paths came from this platform.

"Let's stick together. The monster is weaker when we fight as one," Gulfam ordered. They began to travel on one of the paths. They were on the alert, holding their bows and spears tightly while what looked like venom began to drip from the ends of the stingers on the ends of their tails. Cari looked around. It was dark, but bioluminescent algae also populated this sector, providing her and the hunters some light to walk upon the path. She was mesmerized by the fluent colors of the algae.

But then she slipped. She tried grabbing hold of the path, but it was moist, preventing her from holding on. She started to fall, screaming as the hunters realized what had happened. Realizing they wouldn't get her in time, she closed her eyes and readied to meet the bottom. At the time she heard the forest floor screaming in fear as she was falling, she stopped. Opening her eyes, she found herself on a large web. She tried to get up, but it was rather sticky, preventing her from moving.

"Great, just great," she said to herself as she struggled to lift her arm up. She felt vulnerable in this position. It only made it worse when she felt the web vibrate. Did something just get on the web? Turning her head, she saw something horrifying. It was a large creature, about the same size as a bus, with two clawed arms, almost like a scorpion, six legs, a long, thick abdomen, large fangs, small eyes, a small head, and smooth white skin. It started to slowly creep its way towards her. She struggled to break free, but the web tightens its grip, almost as if it was a living creature. Her eyes widened in fear as the creature now stood over it, fangs poised to strike. She swore she saw blue blood on them. Was this the creature Gulfam was talking about? She was too shocked to care, as it was about to strike down on her. She awaited her fate.

"Time for a warm up." That didn't sound like Gulfam, or any of the other hunters. The creature removed its gaze and focused on someone outside of her own vision. The creature was then seen being thrown by this person to the other side of the web. She heard this awful buzzing sound nearby. She turned her eyes to the direction of the sound, and gasped at what she saw.

He looked like a Scorpinok, but he had wings, a large abdomen with a stinger at the end, and yellow skin with black markings around his eyes, nose, shoulders, ankles, and back. What and who was he?

The creature retaliated quickly, raising its abdomen towards the humanoid and firing sticky webbing. The humanoid reacted quickly, dodging the incoming projectiles and aimed his fist down at its face. He slammed his fist upon it with such a force that the web broke. The creature fell as the humanoid went after it. Cari, on the other hand, was falling, but the web began to wrap around her. The web then collided with the side of a algae tower, leaving her stuck again. She sighed in relief. She was done with falling! But then she realized that, after looking around, that Gulfam and his hunters may not be able to reach her.

She hung from the side of the tower for what felt like hours, until the familiar wing beat from before was heard. She looked down to see that the humanoid, his hands covered in blue blood, was flying up from the forest floor and away from the scene. She realized that he was her only chance of escape.

"H-Hey!" The humanoid stopped and turned his head over to her. "Um...a little help please?"

"Who are you," he questioned, slowly flying towards her.

"I'm Cari...I'm not exactly from around here," she told him.

"Hmph." Cari looked nervously at him as he grabbed the front of the web and pulled it off with ease. He grabbed hold of her, holding her close to his body as he flew up to the path, where he put her down.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," he told her as he was about to fly off.

"Wait! Who are you," she asked him. He stopped and turned back to her.

"Uh...I'm Berac. And for your information, I am a waspan, not a beegon. Our races get confused a lot," he told her.

"Oh...I see..." Berac smirked before flying off. She watched him disappear behind an algae tower before letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Gulfam and the hunters. Gulfam was worried sick and was the one to approach.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she told him.

"How are you back up here so quickly? We saw you fall," Gulfam questioned. She explained to them about Berac, how he somehow managed to beat the creature by himself and flew her back up. The hunters grew worried looks on their faces, but Gulfam knew why.

"I know why you all are worried. Waspans are known to be very powerful all on their own. But I know that they mean us no harm. We leave them alone, they will leave us alone, simple as that," he told them. They breathed a sigh of relief before looking over to Cari. She started getting uncomfortable, a blush forming over her cheeks.

"Please watch where you're going next time."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed (if you didn't, that's fine). If you want to give me ideas, leave a review.**

 **This is Sporedude135, signing off...**


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